JP2583366Y2 - Automotive airbag equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many automobiles have an airbag device for deploying an airbag toward a vehicle interior at the time of a collision, from the viewpoint of improving the safety of occupants due to the collision. Among such airbag devices, there has been proposed a so-called side airbag device in which a side airbag is deployed between a side door and an occupant at the time of a side collision.

[0003] By the way, the airbag device is inflated.
An airbag unit is formed by housing the airbag and the folded side airbag in a casing, and the airbag unit is mounted at an appropriate position on the vehicle body. Although this airbag unit will be quite large,
As disclosed in JP-A-117957, it has been proposed to house an airbag unit in a side airbag device in an armrest formed on an inner surface of a side door. That is, the airbag unit is to be disposed by utilizing the extra space in the armrest, and the side airbag has a lid portion formed on a vertical wall portion extending substantially vertically in the armrest. It can be pushed open and deployed almost horizontally to the inside of the vehicle.

On the other hand, in recent automobiles, the design of the interior wall of the vehicle, especially the shape of the interior of the vehicle so as to constitute one continuous wall, has been devised. As one type of such a design, at least one of a front portion and a rear portion of a vehicle body side wall member is formed into a lounge portion which is curved toward the inside of the vehicle body. That is, when the lounge portion is formed at the front portion of the side wall member, the instrument panel and the side wall member are smoothly continuous, and when the lounge portion is formed at the rear portion of the side wall member, the passenger compartment rear wall member is formed. And the side wall member are smoothly continuous. By forming such a lounge section, the occupants can be given a strong feeling of being wrapped in their own space completely separated from the outside of the vehicle, and the wrapped space is warm and soft. -It is possible to give a strong impression, and the number of cars having a lounge tends to increase.

[0005]

When the airbag unit is disposed on the side door or the side wall member connected to the side door, it is desired not to sacrifice the cabin space. In the above-described side airbag device, when the airbag unit is stored in the armrest, the armrest needs to protrude considerably inward of the vehicle body. This is unnecessarily large and unfavorable in terms of cabin expansion. In particular, when the side wall member does not include a member that bulges inward of the vehicle body, such as an armrest, how to secure the space for disposing the airbag unit becomes a problem.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, without sacrificing any cabin space.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automobile airbag device in which an inflator and a side airbag can be disposed on a vehicle body side wall member.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an airbag unit including an inflator and a folded side airbag is provided on a vehicle body side wall member as described in claim 1 of the claims. In an airbag device for an automobile that is deployed toward
At least one of the front portion and the rear portion of the side wall member is formed with a lounge portion curved inward of the vehicle body, and the airbag unit is disposed in the lounge portion,
A recess extending substantially in the vehicle front-rear direction is formed in a portion of the side wall member on the side of the deployment direction of the side airbag from the airbag unit, and a surface of the recess on the vehicle outer side is substantially in the vehicle front-rear direction. And is formed as a lateral guide surface that guides the deployment direction of the side airbag.

[0008] The lounge portion can be formed at each of the front portion and the rear portion of the side wall member, and the airbag unit can be disposed in each of the front and rear lounge portions. In addition, the lower surface of the concave portion may be formed as a lower guide surface that extends substantially horizontally and guides the deployment direction of the side airbag. Furthermore, a lid portion which is pushed and opened by a side airbag which extends and extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the deployment direction of the side airbag is provided in a portion of the concave portion on the side of the airbag unit, and a lateral guide surface of the lid portion is provided. It can be formed so as to be continuous with the outer end of the vehicle body.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the dead space having a considerably large volume formed in the lounge portion is effectively utilized, and the air bag unit is incorporated in the dead space, thereby sacrificing the cabin space. The airbag unit can be incorporated into the vehicle body side wall member without the need. Also, due to the curved shape of the lounge portion, and further by the guiding action of the lateral guide surface, it is preferable to reliably deploy the deployed side airbag between the vehicle body side wall member and the occupant. . According to the second aspect, the airbag unit can be disposed by effectively utilizing the front and rear lounge portions. According to the third aspect, the lower guide surface is preferable in that the deployed side airbag is more reliably guided in the vehicle front-rear direction while preventing the side airbag from being deployed significantly downward. It will be. According to the fourth aspect, the guide function of the side airbag by the lateral guide surface can be exhibited immediately after the side airbag pushes and opens the lid portion.

[0010] With the configuration as described in the second aspect, a plurality of airbag units can be incorporated by effectively utilizing the dead spaces in the front and rear lounge portions.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2, 1 is a side door, 2
Is a front pillar, 3 is a rear pillar, 4 is an instrument panel, 5 is a driver seat as a front seat, 6 is a rear wall member of a vehicle compartment, and is shown on the right side of the driver seat 5. A passenger seat is abbreviated. As described above, the automobile is a coupe type automobile of two-seater left and right.

As shown in FIG. 2, a side door 1 as a vehicle body side wall member includes an inner panel 11 and an outer panel 12.
A trim member 13 as a vehicle interior material substantially constituting a vehicle interior wall surface is provided on the inner side surface of the inner panel 11 in the vehicle body. Trim material 1
A front lounge part 14 is formed in the front part of the
A rear lounge portion 15 is formed in the rear portion.

The front lounge portion 14 is curved so as to be gradually located inside the vehicle body as it goes toward the front side of the vehicle body.
Finally, it is smoothly connected to the instrument panel 4. Further, the rear lounge portion 15 is curved so as to gradually face inward of the vehicle body toward the rear side of the vehicle body,
Finally, it is smoothly connected to the rear wall member 6. An armrest 16 is also integrally formed with the trim material 13.

The inner panel 11 has a substantially flat plate shape and does not have a portion which greatly bulges inward of the vehicle body. On the other hand, in the trim material 13, each of the front and rear lounge portions 14, 15 and the arm rest 16 are
A dead space having a considerably large volume between the inner panel 2 and the inner panel 2 is formed inside each of the bulging portions. The trim material 13 can be formed, for example, by covering the inner side surface of a base made of plastic or an iron plate with a cloth, leather, or the like.

In the front lounge section 14, a front airbag unit 21F is provided. In addition, rear lounge part 1
5, a rear airbag unit 21R is provided. The airbag unit 21F (21R) includes an inflator 23F (23R) in a casing 22F (22R).
And the folded side airbag 24F (24R). The above casings 22F, 22R
Are fixed to the inner panel 2 using, for example, bolts.

The front side airbag 24F deployed from the front airbag unit 21F and the rear side airbag 24R deployed from the rear airbag unit 21R.
Is indicated by a dashed line. Front side airbag 24F
Is set to be directed rearward as a whole, though slightly directed inward of the vehicle body. The deployment direction of the rear side airbag 24R is set to be substantially forward as a whole, though slightly directed inward of the vehicle body. That is, the front and rear side airbags 24F and 24R are set so as to be deployed as much as possible along the inner surface of the side door 1, and do not directly hit the occupant sitting on the driver seat 5 at the time of deployment. It has been like that.

The front lounge portion 14 and its vicinity are formed with respective portions 17a, 17b and 17c in accordance with the setting of the above-described deployment direction of the front side airbag 24F. Reference numeral 17a denotes a lid portion which is pushed open when the front side airbag 23 is deployed, and the lid portion 17a is set so as to be substantially perpendicular to the deployment direction of the front side airbag 24F. Reference numeral 17b extends substantially rearward from the outer end of the lid portion 17a to the outside of the vehicle body, and forms a lateral guide surface that promotes deployment of the front side airbag 24F along the inner surface of the side door 1 as much as possible. Reference numeral 17c extends substantially horizontally rearward from the lower end of the lid portion 17a, and forms a lower guide surface that promotes rearward deployment of the front side airbag 24F and restricts downward deployment.

By forming the guide surfaces 17b and 17c as described above, the trim member 13 has a shape in which the rear portion of the lid portion 17a is slightly concave toward the outside of the vehicle body by a predetermined length. The rear lounge section 15 and the front lounge section 14
In FIG. 1, the lid portion is denoted by reference numeral 18a, the lateral guide surface is denoted by reference numeral 18b, and the lower guide surface is denoted by reference numeral 18c.

In the above configuration, G, not shown, is omitted.
When a side collision is detected by the sensor, each of the inflators 23F and 23R is detonated, and the front and rear side airbags 24F and 24R are deployed as shown by a dashed line in the figure, thereby preventing the impact from the occupant. Protection is provided. During this deployment, each side airbag 24F, 24R is deployed along the inner surface of the side door 1 without heading to the occupant as much as possible, so that the side airbags 24F, 24R can be securely connected between the occupant and the side door 2. This is preferable for deployment in a narrow space between them.

Note that, as in the embodiment, one driver's seat
For example, two side airbags 24 from front and rear
By deploying the F and 24R, it is preferable to reliably position the side airbag over a wide area between the side door 1 and the occupant sitting on the seat 5.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same components as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, a portion corresponding to the rear wall member 6 in the above-described embodiment is configured as a rear seat sheet 31, while a rear airbag unit 21R disposed in the rear lounge portion 15 is provided with a rear seat. For passengers. The rear seat 31 has a sheet cushion 3.
1A, the seat back is indicated by reference numeral 31B, but the knee space between the seat 5 and the driver seat 5 is reduced, so that the vehicle is of the so-called 2 + 2 type, and the rear seat 31 is used for a short time, emergency or Used for children.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the side wall member to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the side door, but may be similarly applied to a side wall member connected to the side door.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view of a main part of an automobile to which the present invention is applied when viewed from above.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the side door shown in FIG. 1 when viewed from the inside of the vehicle body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Side door 5: Driver seat 3: Trim material 14: Front lounge part 15: Rear lounge part 17a: Lid part 17b: Lateral guide surface 17c: Lower guide surface 21F, 21R: Airbag unit 24F, 24R: Side air bag

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-276843 (JP, A) JP-A-3-108566 (JP, U) JP-A-1-117957 (JP, U) JP-A-3-121155 (JP) , U) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60R 21/16-21/32

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An airbag unit including an inflator and a folded side airbag provided on a vehicle body side wall member, wherein the side airbag is deployed toward a vehicle interior when a side collision occurs. In the bag device, at least one of a front portion and a rear portion of the side wall member, a lounge portion curved inward of the vehicle body is formed, and the airbag unit is disposed in the lounge portion, A recess extending substantially in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body is formed in a portion of the side airbag extending from the airbag unit on the side in which the side airbag is deployed. An airbag device for an automobile, wherein the airbag device is formed as a lateral guide surface for guiding a deployment direction of the side airbag. 2. The side wall member according to claim 1, wherein the lounge portion is formed at each of a front portion and a rear portion of the side wall member, and the airbag units are respectively disposed in the front and rear lounge portions. Wherein the recess having the lateral guide surface is formed in front and rear corresponding to the front and rear airbag units. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the recess is formed as a lower guide surface that extends substantially horizontally and guides a direction of deployment of the side airbag. Car airbag device. 4. The airbag unit according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the recess on the airbag unit side extends in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction in which the side airbag is deployed. A lid portion pushed and opened by the inflating side airbag is provided, and the lateral guide surface is formed so as to be continuous with an outer end portion of the lid portion on the outer side of the vehicle body. Airbag device.